Chapter 32

Chapter 2, Princess And I — Episode 32 : Integrity

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

「Eh!?」

I walked into town and exclaimed. No, the monsters have been neatly put away. But this… what is this? Why are the people of Royal Capital who came to help us committing barbaric acts against the people of the city!

This is strange.

The money and goods are taken from the houses, and the screams of the girls are heard in the houses where they can’t even seem to get it. Shirakaba-san and the others are shouting on them to stop, but they showed no sign of stopping.

Then Funabashi-san appeared.

「We risked our lives to save people in a town where we had no ties to or obligation to them. I want you to show me the kind of sincerity that is appropriate. You know that, right?」

They were eating at the Shirakaba-san and others who tried to stop them. The residents, who are believed to have been affected by the disaster, are also looking weak.

Funabashi-san is leading what is called a punishment squad, a group of bad characters who have committed crimes and violated military regulations… Even though he has just eliminated demons and monsters, he is causing even more difficulties for the people of the city.

「Boring, go ahead and do your own thing.」

Ootake-kun says, and leaves somewhere else. Wait, ehh!? Is that what you want? I was puzzled, but he never stopped.

Mariel stepped in front of Funabashi-san and told him firmly.

「This is wrong! We are here to save the people of the city, stop this now!」

「Then? Is the princess is going to play with us?」

He touched Marielle’s chin and looked at her body with a lecherous gaze, as if he were groping her.

「Marielle, you don’t have to deal with them.」

I stepped in between them and brushed Funabashi-san’s hand away without regard to my own ability.

「If you continue to be rough on the people of the city, we will not give you food. We’re the ones in charge of distributing it!」

「What’s the matter with you, baggage handler? A little fish like you can’t be a hero! Stay out of this!」

I was hit on the shoulder and staggered. It was Shirakaba-san who caught my body.

「I guess I was wrong to think that we could solve the problem by talking it out. Thanks to Kaname-kun, I woke up. Now we’re going to get rid of them!」

「Try it! Guys!」

Marielle’s stouthearted behavior was getting through to everyone, including the people of the city, who were about to start rising up as if the revolution was about to break out.

As if to frustrate them, men in the style of thugs tried to attack Rina.

「Die you ugly shit, take this!!!!!」

But suddenly there was a storm.

It’s as if people are leaves!

The gorilla and the others rolled over as if the leaves had been blown away by an engine blower used to clean up fallen leaves and mowed weeds. All at once, they are blown down to the gate separating the city from the outside area.

「Hmmm, the city and the men need to be beautiful!」

Rina-san was entranced by the dust-free streets after cleaning up the trash. The people of the city were also getting up with clubs and grinders, and were trying to drive the rowdies out of the city all at once.

「Knights, assault with phalaaaaaannnnxxxxd———!!!」

Aina and her knights equipped with bucklers and charged in unison with shield bashes, completely eliminating the thugs outside the city walls.

The castle gates quickly closed.

The outcasts fired projectiles and arrows at the walls surrounding the city, but when they found it futile, they,

「I’ll remember this!」

Funabashi-san spat out a line as if he were a third-rate man, took his forces with him, and went away. We won today because our opponents were superior individually, but can we fight with such a disparate group?

Such concerns were on my mind.

* * *

————At the Kagetsu Household.

I was on my way back from the restroom, accompanied by a group of people.

「Kirishima… Why did you come back here… At least have sex with Marielle-tan before you come back. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble to be good-looking, and now it’s all going to rot.」

「I’m not so insensitive that I don’t know how Marielle feels about me.」

Huh? I was arguing with Hanayama, and come to think of it, Hanayama was right. Why didn’t I confess to Marielle?

Ahhh, hmmmm…

I can’t remember the name… ×× and I were dating and kept up the manipulation with her. What a nerd fantasy comes to mind. Haha, it’s ridiculous to think that I had a girlfriend before I went to another world.

「Hanayama, I… if I see Marielle again, I will confess my feelings to her.」

「Oh, ohh! Are you serious?」

「But…」

But didn’t Hanayama think of I was trying to get along with Kagetsu-san?

「About Yoshino? She’s fine. She’s good enough to have a male friend other than me. She have got to get used to guys.」

「Hanayama is surprisingly considerate of his childhood friend.」

「I–I’m not! I just want to get myself away from my childhood friend.」

Hanayama swears with embarrassment, but he is not as bad as he looks and is quite considerate of his friends.

Looks don’t always tell the whole story…

「You’re slow, Miyabi! Kaname, what did he tell you?」

「No, it’s not, I hit him with an oversized one.」

「「Yuck—!!」」

Kagetsu-san and Nishino-san looked at Hanayama, who had no dignity, with jittery eyes.

「What!? You guys know I haven’t washed my hands yet, right?」

「Miyabi, you’re dirty. Go away.」

「Miyabi-kun, you can’t do that.」

Hanayama thrusts his hands forward like a zombie, “Kyaaahhh!” With a shout, Kagetsu-san and Nishino-san ran around the yard like children, dodging Hanayama’s pursuit.

「Miya-chan, I don’t need such a souvenir~」

No matter how much they were relatives, they would have been irked if they were left with oversized items. Kagetsu-san’s mother scolded Hanayama with a laugh and watched over the three of them.

「They really are all like children now.」

The leisure at the Kagetsu family were fun, but it was time to say goodbye…

「Kaname, you can feel free to come back.」

「Kirishima-kun, I would like to know more about the other world Saizō-san was in from me. Please come visit us again.」

I wondered if they were feeling down after Saizō-san’s death, but somehow they felt more encouraged than they did. It was such a strange and enjoyable leisure at the Kagetsu household.

————Monday morning.

Beep! Beep!

Nhn? What’s that in class?

Glancing around, I steal a glance at the teacher who is silently writing equations on the blackboard by the teacher’s desk, and peek at the screen of my phone from my desk. The desk was instantly brightened by the screen of the phone.

I’m worried that the light is leaking out and I’m scurrying around and acting suspicious. The sender was from a girl who had given me a new LINE.

I went to my usual spot on my lunch break and…

I was relieved to see that she has recently become more cheerful, less clingy than before, and the girls in our class talk to her lightly.

Onizuka-san, who was gripping the fence netting on the rooftop, turns around and opens her mouth, her expression rather dark and grave today.

「Hey, Kirishima… Are you, are you going out with Kagetsu?」

「No, we are not dating. In the first place, Kagetsu-san and I are not compatible.」

For a moment, Onizuka-san’s face lit up as if a slit had appeared in the cloudy sky and light had shone through it. However, the gap soon closed.

「But… you go to school together, right…?」

How can I explain this?

I don’t think she would believe me if I told her… that we are related to each other who have been transferred to a different world and have returned.

「That’s that, Kagetsu-san’s father is a novelist, and when I told him I was a fan, we became friends. I don’t know how to say it, I guess I’m like a fellow lover of the novels.」

「I–Is that so… that’s okay then. No, I was worried that Kirishima was, you know, pushing Kagetsu down again, ahahaha…」

It was force majeure that pushed Onizuka-san down, or rather, she fell down in the same body. I can’t believe people think I’m such a slut… I’m on the road to virginity, not girlfriend.

「Hey, if you’re free, come hang out with me after school. I want you to come look at my sister’s album.」

「Ah, okay! Then I’ll be there.」

「Really!? I’m so happy!」

She was holding both my hands and waving them around.

「Ahh! S–Sorry…」

「No, I don’t mind.」

She shyly let go of my hand. It’s a weird feeling to see her cute little face, a bit rough and twitchy.

It is thanks to Rina-san that I can talk to Onizuka-san like this. So I think I need to go to her house.

We go up to her house on our way out of school together. On the second floor of a mortar apartment building. I walked up the rusty stairs, opened the front door, and

「Well, it’s a shabby house, but come on up. I’ll at least offer you some tea.」

「Oh, don’t mind if I do.」

I take off my shoes and go in. There was a kitchen, two rooms, and a toilet and a bath that did not seem to be shared. I thought that if my daughter had brought home a male friend, the family would come flying in, but no one seemed to be there.

「I’ll boil you some tea.」

Onizuka-san took off her blazer and returned, picked up her apron, tied the strings and put it on.

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A JK gal in apron…

I feel like I’ve seen something rare, like I’ve drawn a very rare character.

「Nhn? What’s wrong? Is there something strange?」

「Ah, no, there’s nothing strange.」

It’s kind of a gap from the atmosphere of not seeming to do any housework.

「Did you think I couldn’t do the housework? I may look like this, but I can cook. Well… you’ve come all this way. Have some fried rice.」

「That’s my bad…」

「You think it looks bad, don’t you? I’m pissed. Stay there!」

I don’t know about you, but I seem to have ignited Onizuka-san’s pride… She turns around and asks as she fishes out the fridge. She grabbed a handful of greens and showed them to me.

「Kirishima, can you eat green peppers? Let me know if there’s anything else you can’t have.」

「It’s okay, I’m not picky.」

「Huh, that’s boring. If there was anything you didn’t like, I’d put it all in there.」

What an oni! Wait, that’s Onizuka-san…

Onizuka-san smiles devilishly at me. I think to myself that a boy who becomes her girlfriend would have fun interacting with her every day.

「I’ll help you.」

「Nhn, it’s fine. Give me this, I can do it by myself. You sit down.」

As I sit down, I can hear the thump-thump-thump of a small rhythm. After taking vegetables and other ingredients out of the refrigerator, washing and otherwise prepping them, she hit a ton of eggs in both hands, then threw them into an iron pan filled with oil with a puck, puck, puck.

She’s doing it!?

She opens a red can labeled “Aji Emperor,” scoops it up with a spoon, and sprinkles it all over the ingredients.

Q–Quickly and brilliantly, he maneuvers the iron pot and stirs the fried rice in the air. He serves it in a dome shape with a large ladle and finishes it with red ginger on the top.

「Come on, let’s eat.」

A plate and a brick that is handed to me.

The steam rises and the aroma of pepper and other spices in collaboration with soy sauce is appetizing. Not only that, but she also prepared a stick chicken style Chinese salad with lettuce and sesame sauce on top of the lettuce and chicken.

「Itadakimasu.」

Nuha!?

Delicious!! A harmonious flavor that spreads in the mouth. As I chew, the flavor of the grilled pork soaks into the parched rice… The crispy onion, the slight bitterness of the green pepper, and the sweetness of the carrot are all just a good idea.

Onizuka-san looked satisfied and smug as she silently scooped up the bricks.

「If you can cook such good food, Onizuka-san would make a great wife!」

「Wha!?! S–Stupid… I don’t know… what’s ahead… because the man in front of me is insensitive…」

The tone of her voice gradually dropped, and I couldn’t hear what she was muttering… in front of my eyes.

「How is it? Was it good?」

「Yeah! That was an understatement, it was superb!」

「Hah! I’m glad you know!」

She was happy, banging my shoulder happily. She had been looking downcast most of the time, so just looking at her smiling face made me happy, too.

When we were full, we rested a little and carefully took something in a box from the bookshelf and placed it on her desk. Inside the box is a book with some kind of suede cover.

She flipped through it and pointed to a certain picture.

「Hey, look at this. That’s me in my sister’s arms.」

A girl in the second or third grade of elementary school is holding a baby in a diaper. The girl, who looks just like Rina-san, smiles gleefully and is very cute.

Rina-san is pictured side by side with another waddling Onizuka-san, holding hands. Kuuh, both of them are so cute!!

However, the album shows only Onizuka-san, and it is clear from the photos that her expression became darker and darker as the years passed. In a photo supposedly taken at a junior high school graduation ceremony, her hair had already turned into a golden legend.

「It’s uninteresting to see me in a picture with my sister. Alright, it’s done, it’s done.」

「Ah…」

Still, she was a beautiful girl, just like Rina-san…

Onizuka-san, who closed the page with a slam, with my whole hand turning the page… She holds my hand and looks at me with her eyes as if she is appealing to me for something.

「Today, my mom won’t come back from the night shift…」

「Ehh!?」

「Hey, Kirishima. Won’t you stay the night?」

Seriously!? She doesn’t have her parents tonight… I can’t believe that this tempting turn of events is actually happening to me!

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